My Maternity Pictures

The one thing that I really wanted to do while I was pregnant was take maternity pictures. Some people think its weird to take pictures of your bare belly or your pregnant body and it makes them uncomfortable. For those people, don't keep reading, because pictures do follow.

I wanted to do it for me. I wanted to remember how it felt to be HUGE and still feel gorgeous. I wanted to remember how it felt to feel Thor moving inside. I wanted to remember how happy I was while I was pregnant. I wanted to remember how blessed I was to even be pregnant. I am very visual, so pictures seemed a good memory-jogger.

I wanted "artsy" pictures-pictures that not everyone had, pictures that evoked feelings. I researched photographers until I found one whose portfolio I liked. And in true "Carrie" fashion, I brought tons of changes of clothes, props, and examples of poses I wanted to replicate.

Ok, so I did take some poses that are common:

And I did take pictures that I could send to other people to hang up:

I also took pictures just for me to scrapbook:

And then I took a few sets of pictures just for me. Let me tell you, those pictures are my most treasured. They are the most beautiful pictures I've ever taken. But I'm not going to put them on the internet. Mostly, because other people wouldn't understand them. (And, I have to admit, to spare Gary embarrassment because he IS one of those people that doesn't understand or like my art.) But art it is. And beauty, after all, is in the eye of the beholder. When I look at those pictures hanging in my bedroom and master bathroom I FEEL all those feelings that I didn't want to forget. It's as if I'm right back at the moment the picture was snapped. And I am happy.